Dak Prescott gets vote of confidence from Cowboys: ‘He’s our quarterback’

The Cowboys fully intend on keeping Dak Prescott in Dallas.

Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones told the Dallas Morning News that despite the lack of negotiations thus far, there is “absolutely not” a chance the team moves on from its 26-year-old signal-caller.

“Dak’s our quarterback,” Jones said. “He’s our quarterback for the future. We have nothing but the greatest respect for him. … There’s no thoughts like that.”

Prescott’s rookie contract is up, and as a fourth-round pick of the 2016 draft, his contract carries no fifth-year option.

This leaves a couple scenarios on the table for the Cowboys. The team can apply the one-year franchise tag on Prescott, which would cost around $27 million, or the team can sign him to a long-term contract, which would likely cost significantly more. If the Mississippi State product were to hit the competitive quarterback free agency market, he would stand to earn at least $30 million per annum, a significant jump from a paltry $2.025 million he earned in 2019.

The Cowboys will have to decide whether or not to apply the franchise tag by March 10, eight days before free agency begins. The team hasn’t spoken to Prescott’s agent Todd France since September, but those talks could resume as early as this week at the NFL Combine.

“[The contract negotiations] just kind of stopped,” Jones said. “We kind of left it where it was. I wouldn’t say there was anything acrimonious. I guess they felt they were done where they were. We felt like we were where we were. We never really got going again.”

Jones, son of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, acknowledged that the team’s cap space will be an inherent obstacle this offseason.

“We’re going to have some challenges with our [salary] cap. We are,” the younger Jones said. “Certainly, with Dak and Amari [Cooper], that’s going to shrink it in a hurry. We’re going to have challenges, but they’re not challenges that we cannot overcome.”

Cooper, 25, is also set to hit free agency on March 18. Jones says that contracts with Cooper and Prescott will not be agreed upon until the new CBA rules are decided.

“Our goal is to get it done with Dak,” he said. “I know he wants to be here. We want him to be here long-term. He’s our guy”